Assisted Living 101

If you don’t work in the senior housing industry, it can be very confusing when trying to find an assisted living (AL) or other type of facility.

The industry has evolved over the years, and there are tons of variations on senior living or assisted living concepts. This can make the search for housing especially difficult when your family doesn’t understand the differences between each. Let us help make this is a bit easier to digest!

There are basically three levels of care to understand here: independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing.

Here’s an overview of Assisted Living:

AL is for seniors who need some help with the activities of daily living.These are activities that many of us take for granted like bathing, dressing, eating, and using the restroom.

Some AL communities offer memory care services as well. If your loved one has dementia, some assisted living communities offer what’s called “memory care” in addition to their assisted living. These are usually hallways that are protected by a keypad lock to prevent wandering.

AL is also called “residential care” in some states. The regulations vary. In some states “residential care” is the same thing as assisted living. In other states, “residential care” means a small assisted living community. If you’re unsure of the terminology, ask a local community for help. They’ll gladly explain the difference.

AL does not offer any kind of skilled nursing care. There are communities that offer both AL and skilled nursing on the same campus, but that’s not always the case. Skilled nursing offers a much higher level of care than AL, and, as a result, is much more expensive.

The cost of AL varies, but expect to pay about $2,500 to $4,500 a month.The final price depends on a number of factors including the amount of care received, the size of the room, and the location of the community.

Hopefully this helped simplify things a little. As a caregiver, you might also want to consider these Top 5 Questions to Askwhen choosing a facility for a loved one. Click here for some more information from AARP on choosing the right assisted living facility.

If you are caring for a loved one and need some help figuring out the next step, a Cariloop Healthcare Coach would love to walk you and your family through whatever you may be dealing with. Become a member or call 1-844-790-5667 to get started.

I like how you mentioned that assisted living is also called residential care in some states. Because my grandmother’s dementia is progressing so rapidly, it’s very hard to keep an eye on her. I’ll keep these tips in mind as my family continues to look for an assisted living facility.

Thank you for explaining that assisted living is for those who can’t perform some daily activities without some help. I have been confused about when you would need assisted living because my grandma is pretty adamant about not wanting to be in assisted living. But she does need some help with the things you mentioned so maybe we could look into it more and suggest it along the way.

My grandmother is having a hard time moving around her home because she just had a kneecap surgery. It was explained here that an assisted living facility is great for seniors who need help with the activities of daily living. Moreover, it’s recommended to consult trusted professionals for quality assisted living services.

I wanted to thank you for helping me learn more about assisted living. I didn’t know that some communities could actually offer memory care with their assisted living. Perhaps it could also be good to ask what would be entailed in this memory care so you can learn if it would be a good fit for your loved one.

It’s great that this article mentions how there are communities that offer both assisted living and skilled nursing in one place. When choosing the right retirement living service, it would probably be a good idea to consider what help your elderly loved one requires, such as if they need transportation or assistance with their medication. If you know this it could help to go online so you can research local communities and caregivers to learn about their services and qualifications to determine which one best suits the situation to keep them healthy and happy.

Why does Cariloop exist?

Our team at Cariloop firmly believes that no one should ever have to go through caregiving alone. In an effort to deliver on this promise, Cariloop is arming families with the world’s first human-powered Caregiver Support Platform. Creating a seamless balance of touch and tech, Cariloop’s platform combines healthcare coaching services and cloud-based tools that help families plan for and manage their caregiving journey.